Matt Denton
Matthew Kennedy Denton, also known as Matt Xtreme and DraVen, is a retired professional wrestler, who worked with numerous promotions during his 9 year career. He is widely regarded as one of the fastest rising stars in the sport, and has 9 World Heavyweight Championships to his name. Outside of wrestling, he currently owns the world famous Zenith Entertainment Network, which operates various hotels, nightclubs, restaurants and gymnasuims across the globe. Matt's fortune is speculated to be in the billions. History Early life On November 12, 1981 Matt Denton was born to Patrica and Raymond Denton in Houston, Texas. During his high school years, Matt was very athletic choosing gymnastics, basketball and wrestling to compete in. Years later the gymnastics and basketball helped him with his high flying offense in the ring, and the wrestling helped him develop a solid ground game to go with it. In 2000 Matt made his professional wrestling debut with the Xtreme Championship Wrestling indy promotion, to help earn a little money to go towards funding his education. On his first night he won the XCW Hardcore Championship from Jack Steele and successfully defended it twice before he had to drop school and XCW to seek fame and fortune in the wrestling business. Frontier Wrestling Alliance Matt Denton was recruited by the scouts of the FWA to join their promotion on their first tour of the United Kingdom. Matt jumped at the chance, dropping the XCW Hardcore Championship and taking the first plane out to the UK. Debut Matt Denton debuted under the name Matt Xtreme at the first TV taping of FWA Code Red. He was placed in a one night tournament to crown a new FWA United Kingdom Champion. His first match was against Don McDanger and Sniper in a triple threat elimination match. After making quick work of Sniper, Matt and Don went at it for the shot to go to the finals for the championship. After Don missed a crucial diving splash, Matt hoisted him up and drove him down to the canvas with a devastating powerbomb to advance to the finals, where he would meet the seven foot tall HavoK for the UK Championship in a ladder match. Despite the fans having almost no faith in the newcomer, Matt shocked the federation to the core by defeating the behemoth and claiming the championship for himself. However, Matt's celebration was short lived as another newcomer by the name of The Messiah made his debut at the expense of Matt's Championship victory, brutalizing the newly crowned champion with the ladder and stated he was coming for Matt and the Championship. Over the next few weeks leading up to FWA Choose Your Fate, Matt was again victimized by The Messiah in an attempt to soften him up for their match. Matt demanded thatthe match was made a Falls Count Anywhere match, which was accepted by The Messiah. Again, Matt was the underdog in the match, considering everyone saw how Messiah could handle himself with weaponry. But Matt's history with weapons proved useful as the brawl spilled out onto the arena floor, where Matt ended the match by pinning The Messiah between the ring steps to retain his UK Championship. Ascent To Stardom Following his first successful defense of the FWA UK Championship, the championship was rebranded as the United States Championship upon the company's return to the USA. However the name change didn't stop former FWA UK/US Champion Lawrence Liberty from targeting Matt in a vain attempt to regain his gold. In much the same way as The Messiah did, Lawrence made attempts to attack Matt after his matches, without competing in any himself. That was until Pete Phoenix put Matt and Lawrence together as a tag team. That week Matt aligned himself with FWA 50% Owner Flex Washington as the bodyguard and protector. As many had predicted, Matt and Lawrence had trouble working as a cohesive unit during the tag team match, and even though they won the match Lawrence tired to attack Matt once again. However, fate had other plans. In an attempt to rid the FWA of Pete Phoenix once and for all, Flex closed the company down. It is currently unknown how Flex managed to do it, without the board's backing, but it happened. And as a result, Matt and the rest of the champions were ordered to return their championship belts. The closure didn't last very long, as a few weeks later the FWA was rebooted, without Pete Phoenix on board. The first show, featured a battle royal between all of the roster of the FWA for the vacant championships. Matt made it to the final two before being eliminated and receiving the FWA Intercontinental Championship as a consolation prize. However, before the FWA could full get going again, Flex Washington disappeared. Without the owner around, there wasn't anything to be done and the FWA was closed again and all champions again had to return their championship belts. Once Flex had returned, FWA was rebooted for the third time, again with Matt Denton on board. but Matt Denton was pretty angry with the way he had been treated, having to give up two championships within the space of a month. So whilst still claiming to be Flex's bodyguard, Matt formulated a plan. A plan to get the FWA World Heavyweight Championship and bring Flex Washington to his knees. Knowing full well that there would be a tournament this time to crown the next FWA World Heavyweight Champion, Matt Denton threw a match for the FWA Hardcore Championship so he could be a part of it. Over the coming weeks, Matt defeated participant after participant, eventually coming to what he wanted. The FWA Championship match at Bloodwar. After a half hour of vicious battle, Matt pulled out the victory for his first World Championship, and with all the pieces in place, Matt could get revenge on the man who had seemingly hindered his career. Controversial Exit Following his FWA World Championship win, he appeared one last time on FWA during the official coronation ceremony. After receiving the championship belt, he proceeded to cut a shoot promo on Flex Washington, detailing his treacherous deals behind the scenes, and his plan to screw over his own company's reputation by closing and re-opening it, when there was a champion he didn't like on board. He brought up the subject of Pete Phoenix's departure and subsequent closures when the "wrong" person won the World Championship. The promo ended when Matt delivered his Hell & Back (Burning Hammer) finisher to Flex Washington in a way that Flex took all the impact, which crippled Flex for life. When Flex filed a lawsuit against Matt, Matt was let off as he claimed "The move accidentally went wrong, I didn't do it on purpose.", whether or not this was entirely truthful nobody knows. But as it occurred in a shoot promo, it is assume it wasn't accidental. Championship Wrestling Association Following his departure from the FWA, Matt was signed to a contract to wrestle in a fledgling company called the Championship Wrestling Association. The first pay-per-view show King of Kings featured a Triple Cage match to determine who would contest for the World and International championships respectively. He debuted under his real name Matt Denton and entered the top level to take on three other opponents. In what could only be described as a clusterf*ck, with three matches going on at once. Matt stole the show by scaling the cage to the very peak and diving off with a wicked swandive senton bomb landing on two of his opponents, pinning them both simultaneously. Matt and Omen were the last two left in the cage by the end, with Omen picking up the victory following a low blow and his Bad Omen finisher. Unknown to many in the back, Matt injured himself during the match, but carried on wrestling that night regardless. He entered a triple threat match against Ryan Fox and Evan Hart 'for the International Championship, which after a hell of a battle Matt claimed after executing another swandive senton bomb which hit and pinned his opponents simultaneously. After having a checkup the few days later, Matt was advised not to wrestle for a month because the injury Matt sustained was more serious than Matt thought, and wrestling with it aggravated it. Regardless, Dan Worm the owner of the company forced Matt into a match where he was to defend the championship. Matt told him he wasn't medically cleared to wrestle, but it wasn't good enough. Dan told Matt he was fired and demanded the belt back. Matt then filed a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. The lawsuit was settled quickly with Matt receiving $1,700,000 compensation. The CWA never recovered and filed for bankruptcy soon after. Shockwave Sports Entertainment Chaos Brand Road To Destiny Online Championship Wrestling and independents When Matt entered OCW, it was in a downward spiral, so he didn't get to make a full impact as he usually would hope to do. He came in initially as '"Marvelous" Mario Maurako's bodyguard and occasional "babysitter" of his manager Johnny Elite. Months after OCW closed, a re-union show was announced featuring many of the main stays of OCW. Despite this, Matt showed up backstage and gatecrashed the celebrations of Rob Torborg who had just retained his OCW Television Championship. In less than 10 seconds, Matt pinned Torborg to become the last ever OCW Television Champion. Following this win, Matt started to roam the independent promotions to help build stars of tomorrow, who could get a rub from beating him and more importantly learn from him. During this time Matt earned 8 more World Championships, although the last three comprised the Mid-West Triple Crown which at the time was held by Robert Kennedy. Matt vacated the belts because he wanted to step away from the wrestling business to let nagging injuries heal. Retirement and MMA After OCW, Matt took an extended sabbatical from the world of professional wrestling, during this time he divorced his wife of 3 years Jane Denton and went into training for Mixed Martial Arts events. Matt Denton made his debut under a mask, becoming the first MMA fighter to wear a mask to shield his identity. He fought under the name of DraVen. He went undefeated in all contests before causing a riot at a show where he was to defend his All-State Championship. The fans were baying for DraVen to lose his first match, but he didn't and walked away with the Championship. Before he left the cage though, in an unsporting move, Matt attacked his opponent after the winner was announced driving him into the canvas with a Ganso Bomb. Following this, Matt returned to wrestling, continuing to shield his identity under the DraVen mask and moniker. Pro Wrestling R4GE DraVen made his R4GE Debut on TNT in a losing effort to Kokane. During his time in R4GE he was a top contender for the R4GE Television Championship, but fell short of claiming the championship without being involved in the decisions. After a few months DraVen stopped being used on television, allowing Matt Denton to get back in shape for his official R4GE debut in October. Unfortunately R4GE closed down before Matt's debut could occur. G-2 Wrestling In late 2007 following the closure of Pro Wrestling R4GE, the former R4GE Commissioner Jimmy Chisel opened up his own independent wrestling promotion in Galveston, Texas called G-2 Wrestling. Matt Denton was one of the first to be confirmed as being part of this upstart promotion. Matt himself stated that he didn't want to travel around the world any more than he needed to, and wanted to have a hand in a new promotion without owning it outright. On January 23, 2009, Matt Denton was written out of storylines with a back injury at the hands of Spartan. This allowed Matt to walk away from the business because of being burned out. However Ken Fuqua who was one of the "founding fathers" of the company, took it as a sign of disrespect and it led to a big argument between the two. Matt left, and was informed several weeks later that in retalliation that the powers that be in G-2 had removed all traces of Matt's existence within the company that wasn't an in-ring performance. Back Into Retirement Following Matt's retirement from wrestling, he has been spending time working closely with his friends in Hollywood to open up a production company to extend Zenith Entertainment Network further. Matt also engaged his long time girlfriend Lisa Bond, and as of the time of this writing no date has been set for their wedding. High Octane Wrestling On March 26th 2009, Matt Denton made a shocking appearance on HOW Turmoil, alongside Rob Michaels when they attacked Scottywood and Aceldama with DDTs. A week later Matt made his return to the ring teaming with Rob Michaels to take on the men they had attacked 7 days previously. The match didn't go according to plan with Matt Denton being pinned by Aceldama following a Jackknife Powerbomb. Matt's losing run continued the next week as once again he was put into a tag team match with Rob Michaels and Trip Eisen in a losing effort to Bobbinette Carey, Issac Slade and Max Kael. In Matt's last official match in HOW, he came up short yet again in a close battle with Rob Michaels. Days later, Matt was watching HOW Turmoil, only to see a Matt Denton impersonator facing off against Max Kael. The impersonator was promtly beaten in five seconds, and given the "Speedbump". Matt responded saying "That's the most lame brained, childish shit I've ever seen in my life! Good job Lee!" Return Rumours Recently Matt has been rumoured to be joining TWOStars in the near future. So people have already reported that Matt has an intense dislike for Barry Gower after a spat the two had in the TWOStars Training Academy. Matt Denton has currently not been reached regarding this rumour. Recently, the Sin City Wrestling promotion owned by Matt Denton went under, this was first reported by Mave Deltzer in the TWOStars Dirt Sheet column. TWOStars Matt made his debut on the 5.08 edition of TWOStars XTV, defeating Sandgoose easily with the Denton Bomb. Later that night he issued a message to the "powers that be", to give him a better calibre of wrestler, which they did in giving him a triple threat match against former TWOStars TV Champion, Jason Bell and newcomer Tonkasuman 'Lightning' Kaijin. Kaijin would go on to win the battle, executing the Final Destroyer on Denton. A week later Matt took on another former TWOStars Television Champion in Randy Roko, defeating him in quick time with the Market Crash following a distraction from a video playing on the TWOTron. At Zero Tolerance, Matt made his first TWOStars PPV appearance as a replacement referee for the Chris Eagles Vs Randy Roko match after Charles Robinson was knocked out. He didn't last too long in the role, as he walked away leaving another TWOStars sanctioned referee to take over the duties. His second appearance that night was in a match against 'Senor Fire' Dirk Valentine. The match ended when Matt Denton went after Eric the Manager intending to smack him around a bit, but Eric was rescude by Lindy Rose. Matt got back into the ring and was rolled up by Dirk for the pinfall. Following that hard loss, Matt seemed to focus his time on destroying TWOStars from within, making bold statements about winning the Triple Crown Championship and re-christening it, the new SCW World Heavyweight Championship. But rather than following up on that statement, he was thrust into a triple threat match, featuring Randy Roko and the TWOStars United States Champion Johnny Rockefeller, which Matt would end up on the losing side of, being pinned by Randy Roko, who claimed vengeance that night. During that match, matt was accompanied by Chris Eagles. A week later Matt teamed up with Edward Samson to take on the Prime Time Playas in a non-title match. Matt and Edward didn't seem to gel well, due to conflicting styles. Matt was pinned by Kyle Gilmore who used a handful of tights. Following the match, Matt began to exact revenge on the PTP, seemingly solidfying an alliance with Samson, but Samson promptly delivered a Calcraft Noose to Denton before dispatching of the PTP on his own. On XTV 5:15, Matt squared off one on one with Lucian L. Jones, in what was a close fought battle, when the end was almost ruined by Jack Eastwood coming down to the ring after seeing Lucian's blood. With the referee distracted Matt wrapped Lucian's Tag Team Championship around his foot and delivered the Market Crash for the victory. Post match, Jack and Matt continued the beatdown and demanded a match at Endgame for the Tag Team Championships which Lucian accepted. At Endgame, The PTP defeated Matt Denton and JAck Eastwood following Jack tagging himself in and being defeated via the "Hate The Game". At the next XTV Matt once again made a bid for the Tag Team Championships, teaming this time with his associate Chris Eagles. Matt ended up on the losing side, with Chris Eagles being pinned following the KlapJack. Since that match, Matt has been out of the ring signing up various TWOStars Wrestlers who are looking for an alternative salary than the one GM Darkstar is offering them. Such stars as The Maxx, Tonkatsuman Kaijin, Lucian L Jones, Angel Cage and Damon Kori have agreed to such contracts and now work under the Zenith Entertainment Network, but still actively compete in TWOStars. Denton left TWOStars on May 6, 2012. Moveset Normal Moves *All manner of kicks *Spinebuster *Snap Suplex *Belly to Belly Side Suplex *Hammerlock *Low Dropkick *DAS SUPLEXEN~! - German Suplex (Commentators just yell DAS SUPLEXEN~!, that's it. No "Denton hits Das Suplexen." just DAS SUPLEXEN~!) *Backbreaker *Falling Reverse DDT *Facecrusher Bulldog *Butterfly Lock Finishers,Signature Moves and Spots As Matt Denton Regular Finishers *'A.T.M '- Styles Clash, but intead of laying flat out, Matt drops to his knees driving his opponent's skull into the ground. *'Money Clip' - Koji Clutch regularly set up with a reverse STO *'Credit Crunch - 'Butterfly DDT (Ala Drew McIntyre, but with PermaSmirk theatrics.) Hardcore Finishers *'Out Of Commission - 'A.T.M from the middle rope onto a the seat of a folded out steel chair *'Bankruptcy' - Rocker Dropper onto the back of a folded out steel chair *'Death And Taxes' - Top rope Full Nelson Suplex through a table. Submission Moves *'The Vault' - Elevated Texas Cloverleaf with a knee to the back. *'The Padlock '09' - Cross Arm Camel Clutch *'The Padlock '06' - Full Nelson Camel Clutch Signature Moves *'Denton Bomb' - Swandive Senton Bomb *'Cash Cow' - Superkick from out of nowhere *'CashFlow DDT' - Evenflow DDT *'Cash Machine -''' Running Pump Kick'' Signature Spots *'Loogie of Doom~!' - In showing his utter distain for his opponent, Matt hocks up a huge wad of spit and pleghm and spits it at his opponent. *''Matt whips his opponent into the corner and follows him in jumping up and hitting them with a high knee assited by the ropes. As the opponent staggers forward, dazed Matt springboards off the second rope and connects with a side kick to the back of the opponents head.'' *''Before executing the A.T.M, Matt pumps his arm three times yelling "Ker-Ching!" with each pump.'' As "The Darque Angel of Suffering" Regular Finishers *'The Darque Side' - The same as the A.T.M move Matt Denton performs. This is "The Darque Angel of Suffering"'s primary finishing move. *'The Heatseeker' - A vicious striking spear to the opponent's back, with the shoulder being rammed into the opponent's spine with pin point accuracy. *'Insanities Descent' - Imploding Swanton Bomb Submission Moves *'Fade To Black' - Koji Clutch, usually set up from the Blackout *'The Rack '09' - Walls of Jericho with the attacker inverted, and the legs over the shoulders, rather than around the midsection Signature Moves *'The Blackout' - A swinging reverse STO, bending forward so The Darque Angel of Suffering" is kneeling a little, with his opponent's back touching his knee, then he drops backward swiftly swinging his opponent around and onto his face. *'Lost Your Head' - A running boot wash in the corner either with the opponent standing or slumped in the corner *'Spider Suplex' - Top rope German Suplex with Matt remaining on the turnbuckle after the move is completed. Signature Spots *'Deadly Dozen' - Matt strikes his opponent a total of 12 times with a weapon. *'Concussion on Impact' - With an opponent slumped in the corner, Matt walks on the apron, takes a few steps back and rushes forward with a dropkick Differences Between Matt Denton & "The Darque Angel of Suffering" Mannerisms The main difference between Matt Denton and his alter ego "The Darque Angel of Suffering" is that generally Matt Denton is more conceited, egotistical and will take any chance to show off to the crowd, whether they choose to cheer or boo him. "The Darque Angel of Suffering" is far more calculating, he knows when and where to strike for maximum pain, will do anything to make sure his opponent won't walk away unscathed and doesn't care about his or his opponent's safety. Against opponents that "The Darque Angel of Suffering" despises, the carnage generally will not stop after the final bell has tolled. Style Matt Denton as his normal self will appear very stylish, wearing fine tailor made suits outside of the ring, and wearing intricate attire inside the ring. He will appear at arenas making the biggest entrances featuring paparazzi, a little pyro and the obligatory gold carpet. "The Darque Angel of Suffering" dresses as if he's just come out of a heavy metal concert. A random black t-shirt representing a random band, ripped denim jeans and heavy black boots. He constantly wears black or red grappling gloves whether in or out of the ring as well as blue facepaint, with a red bullet hole painted in the middle of his forehead. Inside the ring he wears long shorts, with the word "Darque" on the back in blood red letters, the letters Z.E.N on one leg and a silver fist clutching a heart on the other. He also wears black boots and kick pads with a fist clutching a heart as the design. He doesn't like to announce his arrival, and takes great care to make sure nobody notices his arrivals and departures. Entrance Current Music "The Darque Angel Of Suffering" - 'Godzilla' by We Butter The Bread With Butter Matt Denton - "Revolution is My Name" by Pantera "The Darque Angel of Suffering"'s Entrance Description The light dim to a deep shade of neon pink, as blue flames flare up from the base of the stage whilst the intro of "Godzilla" by We Butter The Bread With Butter. Matt Denton steps out from behind the curtains, with a deranged look upon the blue demon's face. Scowling out to the crowd, Matt makes his way to the ring. Chimel: Introducing, "The Darque Angel of Suffering" MATT DENTON! When Matt approaches the ring, he climbs into the ring, removes his ring jacket and sits on the middle rope gazing either at his opponent, or at the stage awaiting his opponent. Matt Denton's Entrance Description The lights dim down to complete darkness, as do all of the screens that comprise the Omega-Tron. The drums and opening guitars of "Cool" by The World Without Logos begin to play accompanied by the main screen lighting up with a shot of a room with $100 bills falling slowly. Overlayed are three dollar signs that swivel around revealing the initials M.K.D. Purple spotlights beam down upon the base of the stage as a figure walks out. It's Matt Denton wearing his wrestling attire and a black sleeveless trench coat. Chimel: Now introducing, from Miami, Florida; weighing in at 232 pounds... He is MATT DENTON! The lights brighten up a bit as he struts down to the ring avoiding eye contact with the "peons" that make up the crowd. He leaps up onto the ring apron and climbs in taking residence in a neutral corner. Old Music *"Spit it Out" by Slipknot *"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC *"French Immersion" by Cancer Bats *"I Am Hollywood" by He Is Legend Information Known To Dislike *Interviewers *Fans *Barry Gower *Ankle Biting Fluffy Dogs *Christopher Eagles Has Teamed With *Christopher Eagles *Joseph Helms Has Feuded With *TWOStars (As part of The Consortium), *The Primetime Playas *Famous *Randy Roko *Willard The Immortal *Boyo & Twiggie *Tiny Davies Debut Titles Held None Trivia *Matt Denton is a multi-billionaire, who owns Zenith Entertainment Network. *Has links to Paul Heyman and Extreme Championship Wrestling. *Legitimately has heat with Famous for bailing out on two feuds. Alignment Heel Previous Championships and accomplishments